Loading machine



April 8,1930. N. A. NEWDIICK 1,753,246 v LOAISING MACHINE Filed Jan. 19, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 1' A gwumtoz 11. A [Vim (212')? April 1930- N. A. NEWDICK I 1,753,246 I 1 LOADING MACHINE Filed Jan. 19, 192'? 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 v A N D C I Q 7 LOADING MACHINE Filed Jan. 19, 1927 s Sheets-Sheet s Q A Z 0 O l s /0 l o, gins al g i m I 1/ llllllllllg q a IIII/IIJIIIIIlI/ll jmw dlzz Patented Apr. 8 1930 omen A S- PATENT" FFi CE non'ronA. NEWDICK, or coLuMB s; OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE COLODEB COMPANY, or

' COLUMBUS, OH/I0, A oonronerron OF DELAWARE j LOADING'MAGHINE Applic'ation filed January 19, 1927. Serial No. 162,142. i

This invention relatesto improvements in loading machines, and while the machme 1s directed generally to the transferring of bulk materials from one point to another, it is specifically designed for use 1n connection -With underground coal mining, for the purpose of transferring loose broken down coal from a worklng face to suitable cars or con-' veyors or other, removlng-means placed adijaoentto the discharge. end offthe machine;

1 poses, and one which will enable coal or like materials to be loaded at materially lower costs than when hand labor is employed.

A further object resides in a machine which may be readily employed in connection with the so called, long wall or modified longwall systems of mining, wherein it is necessary that the machine shall operate within thelimited area provided between a solid coalvfa' ce and an adj acent line of roof supporting props or timbers, the machine beingalso designed to operatesuccessfully in relativelythin or,

low coal seams and to this end the machinery has, been compactly disposed so that the machine will be of but minimum height.

lViththe-se and other, objects inview, as

a will: appear as the description proceeds, the invention consist-sin the novelfeatures ofconstruction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts hereinafter to-be fully described. and pointed out in the appended claims. v

lnvthev accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a loading machine constructed. in accordance -with the features of thepresent invention, aportion of the gathering conveyor being brokenaway to disclose thefmechanism carried by the base unit of the machine,

Figure 2 is aside elevation-of the loading machine, Y

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of- Figure '1, v

Figureis a detail verticallongitudinal sectional view on the line 4-:4 of Flgurel,

Figure 5, is a verticaltransverse sectional view taken through the forward end of-the loading machine and disclosing more particularly the gathering chain construction,

Figure 6 is a plan view thereof, illustrata ing more particularly therelationship be,

tween the chain construction, the .dragflights,

and. cutting bits.

Referring more particularly ,tothe draw,- ings, my, improved loading machine comprises generally a base unit- 1, which in this instance has been, formed to rest directly on the floorof a mine so as to slide thereover.,-. It is obviously within the range of the invention toprovide-the base unit with wheels or otheriportk able elements, if desired,,to facilitate its op:

eration and transportation from place to place, depending upon the system of mining I utilized, however, for long wall systemsthe sliding type of'base unit has been found to be preferable. Supported by the base unity is a gatheringiconveyor 2, which comprises an elongated frame including a forwardly, and'downwardly extending vertically movk able. gathering portion 3, anda horizontally,

extending rigid, elevateddischarge-portion ,4, which is arrangedabove the base .unit an-d is, rigidly connected with the verticalside 'walls 5, of the-base unit. The base unit also 7, carries for pivotal swinging, movement in a horizontal plane a rearor discharge conveyor 6, which has itsforward end supported for turning movement about a vertical axis, 7, the latter being disposed immediatelybeneat the-discharge end of the gatherin gconveyor, so that material handled by the gathering conveyor will be caused to drop upon the dis-2 charge conveyor throughout all of the workin positions of the latter. In this instance. the discharge conveyor has been designed,

with a view ofjloacling correctly the materials handled thereby into an elongated conve'yor systemlfo'r transferring the coal from tlie worlri'ng face to a main entry or gallery where the material finally discharged into cars arranged in trips. and removed from the mines, although it-will be understood that if desired the discharge conveyor 6 could deg posit coal directly into a mine car rather than employing the elongated conveyor system.

In long wall work, however, the conveyor system is preferable due to the dificulty in advancing mine cars along the face of the working.

The gathering conveyor at its rear end rotatably supports a driven head shaft 8,

' and between the sides of the conveyor frame the head shaft has fixed thereon a plurality of sprockets 9, in this instance three in numoer; Trained over the sprockets 9 are a plurality of longitudinally extending chains 10, which carry at longitudinally spaced intervals a plurality of gathering flights or bars 11. The chains are adapted to operate in iongitudinally extending guides carried by rectl en a e the material de osited on the y b b mine floor, and to elevate such material onto the conveying plate 1% of the gathering conveyor, so'that the movement of the flights in therearward direction indicated will cause thematerial to traverse the full length of the gathering conveyor and to be finally deposited upon the discharge conveyor 6. The flights 11 are preferably located in the relatively offset or staggered manner shown in Figure 1, so that the operation of the gathering conveyor will be more continuous in its action on the coal and at the same time the double flights will permit of a stronger conveyor construction than if the flights were extended the full width of the conveyor frame. The ends of the flights maybe provided with cutting bits 15, if desired, and also the upper edges of the flights may be provided with teeth as at 16 so as to facilitate the entranceof the flights into the coal pile and to increase their gathering and disrupting capabilities. The forward lower end of the conveyor 2 is provided with a supporting shoe 17, which rests directly on the mine floor to the rear of the foot shaft 13 and serves to facilitate the sliding of the machine over the floor but does not interfere with the gathering action of the conveyor. It will be noted that all parts of the machinewhich engage the coal deposited on the mine floor are movable parts, and. all forwardly projecting wedges, plates and other inclined members provided on machines of this character heretofore proposed have been eliminated. By

" this construction I have produced a greatly improved gathering action and have minimized the resistance which the coal offers 'to the advancement of the machine into and under the coal pile.

In this instance the gathering conveyor ward portion thereof to swing vertically if desired, whereby the front end of the machine will be enabled to conform to irregularities in the floor surface.

Mounted upon the forward part of the base unit is a motor bed 18 which supports a motor 19 of any suitable type, such for example as the ordinary electric or compressed air driven motors commonly found in mining equipment. The operating shaft 20 of'the motor enters a speed reducer 21 by means of which a cross shaft 22 is driven from the motor at a relatively reduced rate of speed as regards the shaft 20. Slidably keyed to the outer end of the shaft 22 is a clutch 23, which is adapted to be thrown into or out of engagement with a clutch face provided upon the hub of a sprocket 24: which is loosely rotatable on the shaft 22. A chain is passed over the sprocket 24 and over an aligned sprocket 25 provided on a stud shaft 26, extending horizontally from one side of'the gathering conveyor frame and mounted in a a casing 27. Also, rotatable with the sprocket 25 is a companion sprocket 28, over which is passed a chain 29 which leads to a sprocket 30 provided upon the head shaft 8 of the gathering conveyor. By this arrangement the motor 19 is employed to drive the conveying means'of the conveyor 2, and through the medium of the clutch 23 the operation of the gathering conveyor may be stopped without arresting rotation on the part of the motor.

To feed the machine forwardly into the coal or other material to be gathered the shaft 22 is provided with a sprocket 31, formed to rotate with said shaft, and over this sprocketthere is passed an endless chain which drives a registering sprocket 32 fixed to a countershaft 33, journaled in connection with the base unit below the stud shaft 26. Fixed upon one end of the shaft 33 is a sprocket 34-over which is trained an endless chain'which leads to a sprocket 35 mounted on a drum shaft 36 so as to rotate in unison with this shaft. Loosely mounted upon the shaft 36 is a pair of drums 37 which may be selectively driven individually or as a unit by means of sliding clutch members 38, keyed to said shaft and which maybe manually operated, through any suitable'link arrangement to engage with clutch faces or jaws formed with the drums 37.

Connected with the drums 37 are draw chains 39 which are trained rearwardly as indicated, and are passed around guide wheels 40, carried by the base unit, and are then trained forwardly, having their extreme forward end united with jacked anchors 41, which are set up between the mine floor and llii I trained an endlesschain which leads to a roof. Thus,;by-n1eans;=of this construction, when it is desired to feed themachine into the coal, the clutch members 38 are both engaged with the clutch jaws .of said'drums and the H motor is started sothat through the power transmissiondevice the drums will be enabled to rotate-slowly and powerfully. The

wrapping-of the chains 39 about the drums shortens: the effective lengths of saidchains and consequently there is imparted to the machine a relatively slow but powerful forwardly directedtsumping movement. This con--.

struction in connection withthe peculiar features of design of-the gathering conveyor enables the machineto gathercoal effectively.

moved forwardly andirearwardly so thatthe coal'faceinay be vattacked over the entire width thereof and the. retractive movement thereof is accomplished by the provision of a single drum42 located on the shaft 36 be tween the drums 37. The hub of the drum 42 is provided with a sprocket 43, over which is larger sprocket 44 looselymounted on the shaft 33. The sprocket 44 is provided with a clutch face adapted for engagement with a sliding clutch member 45; keyed totheshaft;

33. Obviously, by rotatably connecting the sprocket 44 with the shaft 33 throughthe medium of the clutch; member 45 rotary motion may be imparted to the drum 42, which is loosely mounted on its supporting shaft 36. Since the retraction of the machine offers no unusual resistance, except a the mere weight of the machine, the retractive movement be performed at a higher-rate of speed than the forward sumping movement, and the sproeketjsmeshave been proportioned to mclude thisfeature. For purposesof simplicity it has not been deemed necessary to il lustr ate the manually operated levers for actuating the-clutch members 23, 38and 45," since i itwill be. understood that any suitable manual control may-be utilized in this 0on nection.

The dischar e,conveyor comprises a sub-r;

stantially straighttrough shaped frame 46 having a driven headshaft 47 ournaled at the outer or discharge end thereof and a foot" shaft 48 at the inner-end, the; latter being disposed beneaththe discharge portion; 4 of the gathering conveyor; 1

v The shaftsp47 .and; 48' are provided with-sprockets around which are 1 trained longitudinally extending; trans verselyspaced-chains 49, which are connected by transversely disposed flights 50., Inthe I discharge conveyor the flights extend across the full width of the frame 46, and arenot shortenedorstaggered as in the case of the gathering conveyor, sincethe service to which 1 the flights are placed is considerably lighter. and the added strength is notneeded. The flights 50 advance as indicated by the arrowsQ in Figure 2 and move over thebottom 5 1 ,of

the frame 46, advancing the material engaged.

frame.

or other additional conveyor means intov whichthe materials aredischarged andre moved from the working face for loading purposes.

The head shaft 47 of the discharge conveyor is driven by a motor 52 suspended from the bottom of the frame 46. The shaft'of the motor 52 extends into a gear reduction unit thereby rearwardly and longitudinally of the 4 The extreme rearend of the con-- veyor 6 is adapted to overhang a mine car;

53, and this unit drives a sprocket 54 located on one side ofthe frame 46. Rotatable with. a

the sprocket 54 is asecond sprocket55 over which is. passed a chains56 leading to. a

sprocket wheel 57 fixed on the head shaft 47.; By this construction anindependent dr ve 18' provided for the delivery conveyor which will enable the same to operate throughout its entire range'ofhorizontal swinging move-( ment.

Topermit of the support andswinging movement of the delivery convey0r,.the for-. ward part of the frame 46, is provided with a bed plate 58 from the center of which prov s" jectsdownwardlya stud shaft 59, constituting the axis7. The plate 58 is formed to,re-

ceive a thrust bearing 60, which is mounted upon a pedestalcasting 6L arising from the basel. Thecastingtllis also provided with an anti-frictionbearing 62, vertically spaced j from the bearing 60 so as to facilitate the horizontalswinging movement ofsthe dis-s charge conveyor. The {casting 61 is ,pr0

vided with a curved opening 63 through which passes the rearwardly extending chain 64.1eadingfrom and connectedwith the-central drum 42., The rear end of the chain 64;

extends beyond the delivery conveyor and is connected with a post or jack 6,5, which servesv 1 5;

as an anchor, wherebywhen'thedrum 42 is actuated towind thechain 64 thereabout the machine will be drawn rea-rwardly and into a.

more advantageous position'to attack the ma terials to be loaded. Tofurther assist in the swinging support of the discharge conveyor the under side of thejdischarge portion 4 ofthe gatheringconveyor is provided with a wear plate 66, which engaged by a plurality of rollers 67 mounted in. connection with T brackets 68' securedtothe frontend of the; discharge conveyor. The rollers 67 help to sustain the weight of the rear overhanging. end of the deliveryor discharge conveyor permitof the freeturningmovementofsaid conveyor and eliminate the necessity of employing supporting means between the rear portion of the conveyor and the mine fioor. It will be understood that the jack 65 maybe positioned wherever desired in relation to th' rear end of the machine so as to facilitate its positioning in relation to the pile of material to be attacked.

In view of the foregoing it will be seen that the present invention provides a loading machine of simple yet efficient construction for the loading of coal and like materials in underground mines. The construction of the machine permits of its use in mines having thincoal seams and where the overhead room is limited, for example, in coal having a seam of approximately 36 inches in thickness, the machine being constructed to provide for adequate lump clearance between the highestpoint of gathering conveyor and the roof of the mine in a seam of the dimensions given. This clearance is provided in part b mounting the conveyors on sliding frame, where wheels have been eliminated and also in part by reason of the construction and arran ement of the driving mechanisms. Furth r, the machine is admirably suited for loading under the long wall system of mining, in which event the machine wil move parallel to the face of the mine, between said face the row of supporting props placed adjacent thereto. The width of this space is limited ordinarily to about five feet and consequently the width of the machine has been proportioned accordingly and the frontal attach method of gathering used. The forward section of the gathering conveyor is pivoted for swinging movement about a horizontal axis 70 in order that the front end of the gathering conveyor may be elevated to a position clear of the floor when the machine is being transportedfrom place to place. A simple structure for efl'ectingthe elevation of the forward section consists, as shown in Figure 2, of a pair of toggle levers 71, pivotally secured to the gathering conveyor and the base 1. A cable 7 2 is connected with the pivoted meeting portions of the toggles and passes around a reel or drum73 carried in connection with the speed reducer 21. When the toggles are in their elevated positions supporting the gathering conveyor above the floor the same are off center and thereby locked by the weight of the gathering conveyor against movement, although this locked condition is insured by the connection of the cable 72 with the drum 7 3Q It will be observed that the bits 15 overlie the chains 10, as shown more particularly in Figures 5 and 6. These bits provide a movable disrupting force immediately over or in front of the chains so that the advance of the machine into the coal will not be obstructed in any manner and practically the entire width of the gathering conveyor may thus be employed effectively in the gathering and disrupting of the coal. While I have shown jaw type clutches for governing the operation of driving and driven parts, such as have been indicated by the numerals 23 and 36 and at 73, nevertheless it will be understood that friction plate clutches may be substituted to secure greater flexibility and ease and control in operation, and that such friction types of clutches are the full equivalents of the aw type clutches shown.

While I have described What I consider to be the preferred form and construction of a loading machine for accomplishing the results stated, nevertheless it will be understood that variouschanges and departures may be made in the construction from that herein specifically shown and described without dept t ng from tne spirit and substance of the in .ention as the latter is set forth in the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is: i

1. In a loading machine, a portable base unit, a gathering conveyor connected with said base unit, a delivery conveyor carried by said base unit and having the forward portion thereof arranged beneath the discharge end of said gathering conveyor in receiving relation with respect thereto, a pedestal casting arising from said base unit, a vertical shaft carried by said delivery conveyor and turnable in said casting, said casting being provided with a guide opening, a motor driven reel mounted on said base unit and the cable connected with said reel and extending rearwardly from the base unit through the guide opening provided in said pedestal casting, the rear end of said cable being connected with a rearwardly disposed anchor mounted independently of said machine.

2. In a loading machine, a base unit, a delivery conveyor, a vertical pivotal connection between the forward part of said delivery conveyor and said base unit permitting said conveyor to swing in a horizontal plane, the rear end of said delivery conveyor being disposed in overhung relationship with respect to said base unit, a motor, and power transmission means carried by the overhanging end of said delivery conveyor, and a plurality of anti-friction rollers carried by the forward end of said delivery conveyor and engaging a rigid surface formed with said base unit to sustain the weight of the overhanging end of the conveyor.

3. In a loading machine, a base unit, a gathering conveyor carried by said base unit including three transversely spaced longitudinally extending endless chains, head and foot shafts carried by the ends of said gathering conveyor and provided with sprockets over which said chains pass, a motor, power transmitting means between said motor and said head shaft, and a plurality of flights connected with said chains and movable in unison therewith, the flights on one side of said conveyor being disposed in'staggered or offset relationship with respect to the flights carried by the other side of said conveyor.

4. In a loading machine, a portable base unit, a gathering conveyor including an elongated frame provided with a forwardly and downwardly extending front portion arranged in advance of said base unit and disposed to engage with the mine floor, transverse head and foot shafts carried by the ends of said frame and provided with sprockets, at least three transversely spaced longitudinally extending endless chains trained over said sprockets, and a plurality of trans? versely extending flights having the ends thereof connected with an adjacent pair of chains, said flights being disposed in staggered or offset relationship with respect to complemental flights carried by the next adjacent pair of laterally disposed chains.

5. In a loading machine, a base unit, a gathering conveyor carried by said base unit formedto include an elongated frame provided with a forwardly and downwardly ex tending portion arranged in advance of said base unit with its forward end adapted to engage with the mine floor, at least three longitudinally extending transversely spaced chains carried by said gathering conveyor and movable in substantially Vertical planes, and a plurality of transversely extending longitudinally spaced flights arranged in sets having the ends thereof connected with an adjoining pair of chains for movement in unison therewith, one of said chains being connected with adjoining sets of flights, the flights of one set being disposed in oifset relationship with respect to the flights of adjoining sets. i

6. In a loading machine, a forwardly and downwardly inclined gathering conveyor having the forward end thereof adapted to rest on the mine floor, three or more longitudinally extending transversely spaced chains carried by said gathering conveyor and movable longitudinally thereof and having upper and lower runs, guide means for maintaining said chains in transversely spaced relation, a plurality of short transversely extending flights having their ends rigidly connected with adjoining pairs of said chains, said flights being arranged to project in advance of the gathering conveyor at the forward and lower end of the latter to directly attack the material to be loaded, and a plurality of cutting bits carried in connection with said flights and chains adjacent to the ends of said flights and having the cutting edges thereof disposed to project over the outer chains in the upper run.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

non'ron A. NEVVDIOK. 

